In The Shadows of The Night
by VanishRain
Summary: He knew it was going against every fiber of his moral character, but the look in her eyes was much more than he could take. She loved him, he knew that now, even if that secret would destroy the very man he had become.
1. Late Night Confessions

Chapter One: Late Night Confessions

Booth had always known that things were going to be different, they had to be. Yet even though it had been months, her sobering confession still rocked him to the core. She loved him, she damn well loved him, and what had he done? He had done what any righteous man would do in the face of unabated love; he had snapped his heart closed so fast he knew he could hear hers shatter. But what else was this honorable man left to do after the bind her denial had put him in?

That night when his heart shattered he had made a vow to love again, even if it cost him the little bit of his heart that beat only for Temperance; he knew he had to at least let his heart learn to soar once more. He had told her he needed to find someone who would love him, in forty or fifty years; and he had every intention of doing just that but hers was a love he could never shake.

He loved Hannah, sure, but the love he shared with his partner was one that had its way of creeping into every second of his life. It had molded itself to every waking second of his life in such a way he didn't even know if he could live without the heartache he had grown to desire, but Hannah deserved more than just the shell of a man. She had proved time and time again that she was a great woman and a great woman deserves a wonderful, loving man. So as the days turned into weeks of passion with a woman he could finally call his own; Booth had gone so far as to finish the paperwork alone in his office, night after night, just so he didn't have to see the angelic face that had been haunting his nightly dreams.

But as he walked into his dimly lit office one night his false reality came crashing down in shattered whimpers and twisted limbs. He knew that delicate frame anywhere, his nightmare had finally hunted her prey.

_Shit._

"Bones," Booth gasped as he stumbled over the mound of a woman before him, "I almost broke your neck."

"So." The meek woman replied, "It is not like it would have mattered to you anyway."

"You know that's not true." Booth softly replied, pulling her up to see the moonlit tears glisten off her paling face. For weeks now he had been hearing the tears she had long since denied but as he watched them flow his heart couldn't help but crack against the icy exterior years of love had created. It was much easier to deny the devastation her love had caused, but as the salty liquid pooled in his palms Booth could fell the torture fall down upon him like a mountain of sorrow and anguish.

"Ha." Brennan hissed, unable to keep the doubt off her lips, "You destroyed my soul and ran away with my heart; taking my life would be a piece of pie."

"It is cake, Bones, and what in the world are you talking about?" And as her gaze fell, a sinking realization washed over Booth and the answers to all his questions became abundantly clear. He had tried not to hurt her, but as the days turned into weeks he couldn't help but put up a barrier to save his own soul. And the barrier he had erected to save himself from inner turmoil was slowly destroying everything he had helped create. Their love was slowly disintegrating and the only one left to save it was the one woman who had denied it all along.

And the pain that this honest omission had caused was much more than he knew he could take. He had watched her walk from hell and back on more that one occasion, but as the light began fading from her bright blue eyes he wondered if he would ever be able to get the woman he had grown to love back. But as her clammy skin pressed deeper against his taunt body he knew somehow deep down she would always been the woman his heart ached for. Even if it was hidden behind a mask of pain and fear he knew the truth and the truth was beautiful.

"You know..." Brennan growled as she felt her partner's resolve weaken against her own, "Don't doubt your intelligence with those silly little games. You know exactly what you have done to me."

"Only you know what your response to our partnership has become, _Temperance_." Booth hissed with little defiance but hell, after all this woman had caused him over the last six months she deserved just as much as she had given him.

"Seeley..." Brennan huffed in retort her partner's anger without remorse.

At the sting of his name Booth's eyes finally flashed open in clear annoyance but the stern glare on his partner's face seemed to dissolve any rational this man had left. He could feel the control slipping from his grasp but as a man of valor and moral he knew he could never give up this easily. She would have to pay for all the amoral things she had made him do over the years starting with tonight.

"If you really needed to do your half of the paperwork together, you could have just told me." Booth spit, trying to keep the spark from engulfing what little sanity he had left, "It is not only my fault our partnership is not as strong as it once was. It is yours."

As his eyes rolled closed, Booth knew it was a lost cause. Any other woman have just stood up and walked away but not his partner; oh no, he was in for a wrath that would put God himself in his place. She would see through his words so easily he didn't even know why he had tried.

"No!" Brennan barked as she thrust her partner back against the door, "Don't try and turn this into a discussion about the disillusion of our partnership, not now. You know exactly what I am talking about. You ache for me, Booth, it is just the two of us and there is no sense in denying it now. I messed up, I destroyed all we had created and I know that now. But what you did was much worse. You left me and found some bitch to shack up with for a while, leaving me with nothing more than a broken heart. I hurt you and have apologized countless times for it, but Booth, you tried to kill me. And for that there is only one price that can be paid."

Wearing not much more than her seductive smile, Brennan crawled toward her partner radiating a desire that few could ever possess. He knew she shouldn't still have this control over him but the innocence in her stride sent the this once strong man on the verge of the edge. She was pushing buttons he did not even know existed and while he may have a lot of explaining to do in the morning, in that moment all that mattered was before him.

"And tonight will be the night you will pay your debt." Brennan murmured as she slid within inches of her partner.

"But Bones yo-" With a firm, slender finger against his lips Booth knew there was no sense in arguing anymore, their fate had been sealed long ago and all that was left was to collect what was due.

"All those sleepless nights spent crying myself to sleep because you were hurt, all those hugs that should have been more..." Brennan smiled as her hand trailed down his check, sending her partner ablaze with every delicate touch, "I bled, cried and almost died for you, Booth." Brennan snapped her hand back as vulnerability shook every word, "A price I knew I shouldn't have had to pay for love, but I did and would have done it ten times over. I did it all for you and all I got in return was hell. The hell you created by just being so damn irresistible, and what did you get Booth? You got to just walk away from the love we had for another woman who could never come close. You left, leaving me to pay debt for our love... well now it is your turn."

"Bones, you know I am with Hannah now and..." Booth fumbled, trying to keep himself from falling further into her trap. Yet as her light blue gaze flashed before him he knew there was no sense in lying anymore. The woman of his dreams was pleading in her cute, rational way for a chance to mend what she had broken and who was he to deny her? "I... I'll always love you but... you see... I am not that kind of man." A man of dignity, that's who.

"I... I just thought..." Brennan began to cry, "maybe if I was honest with myself that I would finally be enough for you. That is all I have ever wanted Booth," Brennan humbly confessed as the tears flowed harder, "I just wanted to be what you deserved."

The silence in the room was destroying them both but Booth knew he had to stand firm. He was never a man to cheat on a woman, no matter how tempting the offer had been and even if this was his only chance at pure happiness he wasn't about to start now.

"I... I just want to be your one." Brennan's voice shook as the tears finally ceased, "It doesn't matter how long it takes, I have learned that love is worth it. I just hope... wish that one day I could be the one you grow old with."

And with the brutal honesty flowing from his partner's lips Booth could feel his resolve shatter in thousand pieces. This woman really him in the palm of her hand and for the first time in months only she mattered.

"Hell Bones, why do you always have to do this to me?" Booth sighed as he wrapped his arms around her delicate frame, "You say just one thing and I go from this cool, collected man to a ball of frenzied passion."

"Show me, Booth." Brennan demanded as she pulled him further into her trap, "We both know you have always been a betting man; well, put all the chips in and prove that all these feelings were not just a lie."

With a sharp swallow, Booth knew the risks were much steeper then he was willing to losing; but the heat radiating between them short-circuit any chance his brain had in being rational.

"Fuck." He huskily growled as he lunged at his smiling partner, "You better make this worth it."

And as he body wrapped tightly around his own Booth knew being worth the world would never be something that Temperance Brennan ever worry about.


	2. The Cheat

Chapter Two: The Cheat

_Just one night, one stupid mistake that should have never happened._ Booth willed himself to believe the only rational conclusion he was able to reach, but the way his heart ached by his foul disgust was one thing he could no longer deny.

Being with two women was not hard to do; his partner often had at least two sexual partners with ease. But love and sex were two completely different things. She had never loved before. Just sexual gratification, that is what she had called it, but he knew the truth; she never loved, that was, until she found him. And with that realization he had done nothing more than destroy that fragile little heart of hers night after night with each gut wrenching lie and perverted denial.

_Bastard. A sick, lying shell of a man was all he had become. _

"The case is really getting to you, isn't it baby?" Hannah frowned from the doorframe; unable to shake the cold, dark feelings radiating from the shell of a man she had grown to love.

"Wha-" Booth rolled onto his back and away from Hannah, "Oh, no. I just haven't been able to sleep is all." He tried to reassure her but the guilt that filled the room was one thing that he could no longer deny. She had to know it was more than just his inability to catch the suspect, the betrayal was written on his face as clear as the morning sun cascading between them.

"I am sure whatever has become between you and Temperance will sort itself out in a few days." Hannah reassuringly smiled as she bounced into the kitchen; surely a tiff with his partner was the only logical conclusion left.

As soon as his girlfriend left Booth bounded up and ran into the bathroom. Yet splashing cold water on his face no longer seemed to wash away the guilt. For weeks the only relief he had was the jarring shock of water that was as cold as his shallow heart. In that brief few seconds he finally felt alive, not bound by the shackles that had long since torn his heart in two but rather free to be the man without boundaries that he had long since denied.

But as his face finally warmed up in the steamy bathroom, a the sudden realization hit what was left of his sanity in such a destructive fashion he couldn't help but let out a gasp as the tears began to flow.

In a split second he had managed to destroy every sense of the word family he had ever known. He had not only broken all the promises he had ever made to the woman he loved, but more importantly he had become nothing more than a façade. It was too late now for anything more than the destruction of his whole world bit by bit. If he was to admit the truth he knew there would be only one result, breaking the heart of one woman he loved and destroying the life of the other. He needed to fix all that he had destroyed before it was too late; starting with the love of the woman staring deeply into the depths of his soul in front of him.

"Bones" Booth rasped, his blood-shot eyes falling behind his partner as he felt his body go ramrod at her gaze, "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk." Brennan rasped, unable to keep her hands from grasping at his frayed t-shirt, "After that night… I need to know that you…"

"No, Bones, no." Booth huffed as he willed his body to turn away from his partner.

"It is not like anyone has to know." Brennan sheepishly smiled as she watched her partner's taunt muscles fall under her command.

"But Hannah is here…" Booth interrupted as he swallowed hard, "What if she hears us… talking?" He meagerly whispered, suddenly finding his mouth dry.

"She won't." Brennan smiled as she bound toward her partner, refusing to let him deny her of her animalistic desires, "There is no one here except you, me and what is between us. Believe me." Brennan snickered as she watched the colour fade from all but his rosy checks. "I made sure of that."

"Bones… I… I cannot…" Booth stuttered, barely able to get the words off his lips.

"Oh God, Booth." Brennan finally growled as she took one last predatory jump toward her partner, landing squarely against his glowing skin, "Don't make me beg."

And in that second, as his eyes narrowed against her vibrant skin Booth could only think of one thing:

_I have become a cheat, liar and a thief._


	3. The Lies Between the Sheets

Chapter Three: The Lies Between the Sheets

"Oh God, I love you so damn much." Booth mumbled against the warm being beside him. After years of inner turmoil and heartache, the woman of his dreams was finally in his arms to cherish and hold… in his dreams, that was.

"I love you too baby." Hannah smiled as she snuggled deeper into Booth, relieved to finally have her reverent boyfriend back.

As his relief quickly turned to horror Booth couldn't help the tremors that lightly ravished his body. Love was supposed to be easier than this; it was what fairytales and dreams were made of, not the slow demise his heart had taken. And this realization hit him like a ton of bricks; Booth couldn't help but cringe in disgust of all he had done. Sure, he did have a love for Hannah but there was no denying it now; that love would just never be enough.

She was nothing more than a glorified rebound and even if he tried his hardest there was nothing left in his weak little heart but lies and deceit. The thought of lying to the love of his life and destroying an angel was the only thing clinging to the small piece of self-loathing his heart had left.

As a familiar ring bounced off the horrors slowly unfolding in his mind, Booth knew the fight between his head and his heart would have to wait another day, there was a murderer to catch, not a murderer of hearts that is.

"Where's the Bones, Bones?" Booth cheerily smiled as he bounded off the bed and into the bathroom.

"Your ability to sound happy about a crime scene at three in the morning astonishes me." Brennan shrugged as she took her time to roll out of bed and walk slowly into her bathroom. "I am not allowed to be happy about having a job to do but you are-"

"Oh, shush you." Booth teased with almost a sense of glee, "Are you going to give me the address to this blood fest or are you just going to expect me at your place in ten?"

"Are you sure you are not drunk, Booth?"

"No." He growled in quick defense.

"Booth…"

"I am just happy to be in the land of the living, not dreamland anymore." Booth growled in retort as he stripped away the hauntings along with his clothing, "Can't a man just enjoy being awake?"

"So… you are happy to be awakened at a very early hour because you would rather deal with remains then dreams?"

"Well… they were not exactly dreams."

"Booth…" Brennan's voice chocked as she tried to slowly piece together his odd behavior, "Are you having dreams about… the gravedigger? She is dead. You said so yourself."

"Oh, believe me" Booth's voice lowered as he pushed the door closed behind him, "It wasn't a nightmare."

"But you said…"

"No, Bones" Booth huskily growled, "The content of the dream was causing me distress. The sexy little anthropologist that I cannot seem to get out of my head."

"Oh." Brennan smiled at his admission.

"Yes. The address?"

Little did he know this would be one of his most memorable crime scenes yet.


End file.
